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you on "mad money." i'm jim cramer and i will see you tomorrow. good evening, everyone. i'm larry kudlow, this is the "kudlow report." in washington, the obama team pushed its gun control agenda on three fronts today. talking to walmart, the nra, and hollywood. and the administration package is starting to take shape and we're going to walk you through it. also in washington, d.c., president obama finally makes it official and nominates jack lew for treasury secretary. but, he received a quote obscene million dollar bonus as his boss obama would put it while working at citibank which got bailed out to the tune of $45 billion. is that part of the jack lew story that's going to make him toxic in his confirmation hearings? and we go out to san diego where the family of the late nfl star junior learned he had a brain disease when he committed suicide.

did football kill him? and back to hollywood, my favorite movie of the year "lincoln" gets the lion share of oscar nominations. this is a fabulous film about government dysfunction and how abe lincoln solved it then. can we learn something about it now? the "kudlow report" begins right now. first up this evening, call it the d.c. gun show. all the major gun players meeting with vice president joe biden and attorney general eric holder. cnbc's own eamon javers joins us now with all the details. good evening, eamon. >> good evening, larry. well, even as the vice president was holding a meeting in the white house complex today about gun control. word came of a new school shooting today, this one in taft, california, and two people were wounded. meanwhile at the white house itself, the vice president said he's starting to see a bit of an emerging consensus coming together about what ought to be

in the package of ideas he's going to present to the president on tuesday. >> there's an emerging set of recommendations not coming from me, but coming from the groups we met with. one is there's a surprising, so far, a surprising recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks. not just close the gun show loophole, but total universal background checks. including private sales. >> the white house also held a meeting with retailers including walmart meeting with eric holder at the white house complex today also involved in that meeting with the retailers were other outlets including academy sports, bass pro shops, big five sporting goods, cabelas and dick's sporting goods. this evening hosting a meeting to talk about violence in the media at that meeting, folks

from branded entertainment, comcast corporation, a parent company of this network. also the director's guild of america and the motion picture association of america in that meeting, as well. the vice president saying the consensus here, larry, is they're going to do something about universal registration, and something on data bases is also likely. the vice president having said yesterday he might be able to use executive orders to move some of this action by the president union laterlaterally using congress. but the white house emphasizing legislation will have to be a piece of what they do and with that tuesday deadline looming, therest no the a whole lot of time for the white house to make up its mind what's going to be in that package, larry. >> i want to add, eamon, your last piece, which is so important. people are saying they're going to do it all by executive direction, they're not. they're going to have to go legislatively. in fact, they're going to have to renew that 1994, 2004 bill. that's going to be a big part of

it. the point is, it's going to be a big piece of legislation. >> you can tell there's already opposition to it. the nra was involved in one of the meetings today and their president came out this evening and said he was disappointed in the meeting he said basically the meeting at the white house today was the nra and the gun side making their case and sticking to their points and the white house making its case and sticking to its points according to that description, sounds like the two sides are talking right past one another. >> all right. many thanks, eamon javers. let's bring in our panel, democratic strategist, jennifer ruben, author of the "washington post" right turn blog. i've got to start with my paul jennifer ruben. because if i start with lars, he's going to literally cut my head off. he's going to take my head off. now, look, i have said i am totally against the jack lew nomination for treasury secretary. but regarding these gun issues,

jen, so far, i haven't heard anything that's so bad. in fact, from what i gather, they're going to reinstitute the ban on assault weapons that was law for ten years. what's wrong with that? >> well, on one hand, the good news is that the vice president did not mention the assault ban weapon. he talked about high capacity magazines and talked about this background check. so on one hand, maybe there's playing some small ball. the bad news is that he's not really proposing anything that might actually work. i don't have any problem, larry, like you, with either one of these provisions. i'm a second amendment supporter and i don't think these go to that level. but at the same token, what happened to mental health? what happened to access to weapons? neither one of these would've blocked the shooting in newtown. >> i don't mean to be rude, but i've got breaking news i've got to pick up. please hang with me. phil lebeau's got breaking news ton the 787 boeing dream liner. phil, if you're out there, tell me what you've got, my friend.

>> larry, we have learned that the faa is going to be conducting a special review of the power system in the 787 dream liner. essentially this is the faa saying let's take a pause here and take a look at the design, the manufacturing, how the power system works on the dream liner. let me be clear here, this is a special review. this is not an airworthiness directive. it would be a much more serious matter. and it might involve airlines being told stand down, don't fly this plane. that is not what is happening. airlines that have the dream liner will continue to flow it. but the faa is saying this is not simply looking into what happened on monday in boston, we want to do a special review of the power system remember, at the heart of this is the issue of the way the dream liner derives so much of the onboard

electricity. this uses much more electricity than any other plane. as a result, it's much more complex than your typical airplane. again, the faa is going to be conducting a special review of the power system on the 787 dream liner. this review is likely to take several weeks if not a couple of months. >> thanks very much. we come back to our gun control panel. we're going to bring in a newbie from the "daily caller." we're a little out of order, that's what happens with break-in news. did you pick anything up? first of all, walmart in the meeting today. i guess they're in the meeting with attorney general holder. did you pick up anything? and mow important are they to this? >> walmart is the largest gun retailer in america. and so they're very important. the other thing about walmart is, obviously they have red state bona fides. they're not an elite east coast company, they're based in arkansas, so they have

credibility with kind of average americans so, if the obama administration could get them onboard with some sort of gun control and they would call it common sense, of course, gun control. that would be huge. it's unclear whether or not that is going to happen, but i think it's very likely that's what the white house hopes to do. >> you wrote -- you wrote in your piece on this. walmart cooperated with michael bloomberg. bloomberg is a gun hater. he wants to control all guns, i believe he wants to ban all guns. i wasn't really sure. walmart's not going to ban all guns. the administration's not going to ask him to do that. >> you're right. absolutely right. walmart is thought of as this conservative company. but as you know, larry, big business tends to benefit from regulation. and, in fact, walmart already complies with bloomberg's. he has this thing where walmart is already voluntarily complying

with onerous regulations voluntarily. so if they were -- let's just pie in the sky here. let's say they came out in favor of closing the gun loophole. that means i couldn't sell you a gun, for example. individuals can't sell guns because we can't do background checks. that would favor a company like walmart aus tensively. this happened with obama care. they got pharma onboard, pharma spent $75 million pushing for obama care. if they could get big business onboard with this given the red state credibility that walmart has, it would be a huge win if they can pull it off. >> leave it there, thanks very much. we're going to keep an eye on the walmart story. back to our panel. i really do beg your pardon for the interruption, but we had breaking news on the boeing

problems at 787 dream liner. i think a lot of this stuff makes sense. i know you're going to chop my head off, go right ahead. >> i will. let's start with matt lewis. and i love the daily caller, but he's wrong. i would be able to sell a gun to you, larry, but you and i would fill out the form at a gun store for the ffl background check, i'd pay the gun store $20, and i would know for a fact you don't have a criminal record, haven't been put in the looney bin, et cetera. but it would mean you, larry, as a grandpa could not say to your grandson, i would like to give you one of my guns without asking the government for permission. it's getting into people's lives in a way that will make no difference to these shootings. if you look at the history of the shootings, they have not been done through guns obtained through the loophole that everybody wants to talk about. what would work is if the government actually went after the people who make straw man purchases, where somebody with a clean record goes in and buys a gun and hands it to a criminal. that happens right now and the

federal government has been very lax on enforcement. but if you go through with the ban on semiautos that feinstein wants. if they re-up the ban from 1994 -- >> right. >> and then they say you cannot transfer one of those guns, larry, i have three of those ar-15s, if some day i want to give them to my stepson or his children, i will be forbidden to do it. >> they may grandfather it. >> they'll grandfather it for me, but they're going to forbid the transfer. >> they might buy it back, who knows. >> margie, do you have any problem with this? we're talking about this high-capacity magazine issue too and all kinds of documentation, including mental illness documentation, which i think is so important. the only thing they've left out is why we can't have a little faith, little religion in the schools. even a higher power to teach these kids as they're young kids the difference between right and wrong. now, i don't know if team obama's against religion or not,

they probably are in the schools. to me, that's the only thing left out, the rest of the stuff's okay. i don't see a big problem with it. >> i don't see a big problem at all with a lot of these measures. and in fact, most of americans really support all of these measures. there's a huge amount of common ground for a lot of the things we're talking about. universal background checks. currently, about half of gun sales don't require background checks. you can have an order of protection and go find an unlicensed dealer and buy a gun. that happens now against a domestic violence dispute. so that's something that would be closed. high-capacity magazines, that's something that a majority of americans, including gun owners support. majority -- huge majorities of gun owners. there's been poll after poll that has been shown that over the past few years. ben franklin's polling that shows that large percentage of gun owners say you can balance between the second amendment and keeping guns out of dangerous hands. >> larry -- >> there's a huge amount -- >> if the argument is that you

shouldn't have more than one bullet in the gun because if ten is too many or 20 is too many or 50 is too many, then why not limit everybody to one bullet? because you know that's where this government wants to go. this president has been a gun grabber since he was in illinois -- >> how? how has he been a gun -- >> he proposed -- he proposed -- >> one at a time. >> a specific example. >> except to expand gun rights. >> what -- >> i don't understand that. why do you have to have 100 bullets in a magazine? >> why can't i have -- why do you have to say 100 words under the first amendment? these are civil rights. >> this is a huge mistake -- >> listen. let jennifer get in there. >> i think it's a huge mistake for lars to invent these improbables. we're talking about gun sales not gun gifts. >> yes, we are. >> no, we're not. the vice president is talking about gun sales. secondly, you just made the argument why we can't comply with those.

why shouldn't we? you and larry go down to the gun shop and get it done. >> that's easy. it hasn't caused a problem. >> then we should be doing it right now. wait a second, lars, i'm not done. there is room for creative law making here. and here's what i would suggest, the president wants 100,000 teachers in america, i don't see any statistics down 100,000 teachers, how about 100,000 police officers, we'll have them armed and in the school and the fairfax -- >> i can tell you reasons that won't work. >> i like that. >> we should arm the teachers. >> no. we should have police officers. >> why not? >> because they are trained -- >> you don't trust the teachers? >> i've got to get out. >> i don't, actually. i trust the police officer better than i do somebody who is a member of the teachers -- >> i -- >> it's not something the teachers want to do. >> teachers don't want to do it, they want guards to do it. we've got it in big cities, it's going to happen across the country. if the government doesn't mandate it, it'll happen on a voluntary basis. trust me on this.

margie, jennifer, and lars, thank you. thank you, lars. we're going to switch gears for a second. the nih is concerned today that nfl star junior sayou did indeed suffer from the same kind of brain disease that afflicts many pro football players with many concussions. this comes as the league continues to fight a pricey lawsuit filed by a group of retired players. and also tonight, the stunningly great movie "lincoln takes 12 oscar nominations today. this is my absolute favorite movie. it is a film about washington dysfunction then and now. and it is a film about how abe lincoln solved an incredible problem, 150 years ago to free the slaves. they didn't want to do it. lincoln showed him how to do it and maybe we can all learn something from this fabulous movie. we'll have much more on this later in the show.

>> this settles the fate for all coming time. not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come.

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some disturbing knees from the national football league. turns out junior seau had a degenerative brain disease when he committed suicide last year. the cause, many people believe it was repeated concussions from the playing field. question, how much damage is this going to do to the nfl and the others suffering from this? here now to talk about is sports illustrated writer ben ryder. i take it you are not convinced of the cause and effect. that seau committed suicide, but you don't think that was because of the brain damage or the concussion? >> well, i don't. first off the bat, i think we should say two things here. one is that this was a tragic event. junior seau was a great man first and a great football player second. my condolences go out to his still grieving family and loved ones. the second is that it is never a

good idea to sustain extended and multiple and repeated head trauma. and any effort on the part of the nfl and any other sports league to minimize that should be applauded. now, one important thing to stress here, and it can't be stressed enough is that the discovery of cte today in the brain of junior seau was an expected clinical result. several physicians have said to me that they would expect cte to be present in the brains of virtually every person who ever played football in the postmortem exam. >> why is that? i play football when i was a kid in high school, wasn't any good at it. i don't think i have cte. i don't have any of the symptoms of it. >> well, that's just the point, right? it's essentially scarring. it's as if you were a carpenter. and if you played football, you might have this in your brain. however, the fact is that the vast majority of football

players like you go on to lead satisfying and productive lives long after they've left the gridiron. in fact, the suicide rate among football players is actually less than it is among the general population. many physicians and researchers have emphasized to me that there's actually a real danger in making a definitive conclusion -- connection between the presence of cte in brains of people like junior seau. >> but there is research, growing research that suggests a cause and effect between the concussion and the, you know, the brain, the head contact and the cte. and let me ask you this. let's look at this from the nfl's side. there's a big lawsuit against the nfl, 1,000 players are involved in this now? whatever the number is. what's going to happen with this lawsuit? what if they win? does that dent the nfl's pocketbook? how bad is this potentially for the national football league? >> it's very bad and they're investing themselves, funding a lot of the research efforts into this issue. but it's really a matter of

correlation and causation here. did the cte in junior seau's brain cause him depression and lead him to suicide? and if so, why does that not happen for other football players? i think the real danger here is in the public perception of exactly what cte is. there's a public belief this is a cause and effect. that cte will lead to depression and suicide. that every former nfl player perhaps has a ticking time bomb in their head. that they have a death sentence with only darker days ahead. there are many reasons why former professional football players might be suffering depression. you know, it's the when the cheering stops syndrome, their glory days are behind them, they have other reasons to be feeling depression. the important thing is to stress that nothing is determined here. the answer might not be in the barrel of the gun. an answer could come through therapy. and i'd encourage any nfl player, any former football player who is experiencing depression to go to therapy

first before presuming that all is lost. >> all right. ben reiter, thank you very much. we appreciate it. now, we took a deep inside look at the obama care law. this is weird. obama care law and guess what we found? there is a strong protection for existing gun laws. this is an obama care. and we know who to ask about this weird story. obama care expert betsy mccoy will put her gun cap on and explain how this happened. and, folks, please don't forget free market capitalism is always the best path to prosperity. i'm still hoping that hour treasury man jack lew will some way discover that. i'm kudlow. we'll be right back.

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it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. another good day for stocks, dow up 80 points to close at 13,471, the s&p up at 11 to end at 1,472. banks were market leaders today and it's a good sign for a growing economy. and the consumer discretionary sector, well, it's at that new all-time high. you know what my thought is? stocks are dissed in washington and more bullish on earnings than most experts are. and we'll have some from washington, but i'm going to play this from the optimistic side. now, another story, the new "wall street journal" heritage foundation of rangings of world economic freed. the united states dropped for

the fifth consecutive year. it is now at its lowest point since 2000, mainly as a result of monetary excess business overregulation, labor overreach, and the whole fiscal mess. by the way, while we ranked tenth, canada was sixth. you'd think team obama would learn something about free market economics from our northern neighbors. but it's doubtful. later on in the show, the fabulous film lincoln has just been nominated for more academy awards than any other movie this year. i believe lincoln will win most of them because it shows abe lincoln defeating a dysfunctional congress over a huge issue, namely the 13th amendment to abolish slavery. it can be done, but you need a genius like lincoln and that's why the film is going to win everything. we'll be right back. i'm larry kudlow. >> we can't tell our people they can vote yes on abolishing slavery unless at the same time we could tell them that you're seeking a negotiated peace.

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welcome back to the "kudlow report." in this half hour, we have a kudlow exclusive. virginia governor bob mcdonnell introduced a surprise new tax plan that would replace the gas tax in his state with a sales tax. we'll talk to him about that. and i want to know what his future plans are going to be. oval office or not? and later on, the devil's in the details, we're going to ask betsy mccoy how it is that a strong defense of gun rights ended up in the health care legislation. very bizarre. but first, remember when president obama talked about fat cat bankers who gave themselves obscene bonuses? well, his newly nominated treasury secretary received a nearly $1 million bonus for proprietary trading in citigroup after the bank received a $45 billion bailout from american taxpayers. i would say mr. lew is being

hoisted on obama's own petard. how much is lew going to pay for this politically? >> i think he is going to pay when it comes to capitol hill. he has to go through the senate and be confirmed. if you look at jack lew's career, it's easy to say he's a creature of government. worked in the obama administration, worked for tip o'neill back in the day. but when you look at his experience before he came to the government with the obama white house, he was at citi and got $1 million salary and $1 million bonus. this irks not only conservatives who think obama's being hypocritical to nominate someone this kind of banking background after wagging his finger at the wealthy all year. but almost frustrates and infuriates the left because they would like to see someone more progressive in the treasury role. >> more progressive. but what about this? he was the chief operating officer of a proprietary trading

operation of about $54 billion. now, that has been outlawed under dodd/frank. so once again, i see hypocrisy from team obama. >> you've already seen some senators on capitol hill such as chuck grassley of iowa raise questions about what jack lew did at citi. and there's been a huffington post investigation about how lew's unit within the company was tied to hedge fund groups dealing with the mortgage market that were making bets as the mortgage market collapsed. that's going to come under scrutiny when his nomination is looked over by the senators. >> thank you, robert costa. now let's see how big of a problem lew's citi bonus may be. we welcome ari melber, and we welcome back jennifer ruben, author of "washington post" blog. i don't give a darn about people making money on wall street or people making mistakes on wall street.

i could care less. but president obama set this bar up. it's his petard and now jack lew is going to trip all over fat cat banking bonuses and shorting mortgages, that's the problem here. it's obama. >> well, i think that part of the -- part of the problem here is conservatives get on obama when hep doesn't work with wall street and according to the narrative i heard from mr. costa's reporting, now they want to get on him when he does work with the people who have the experience. which is it? i think there's a confirmation process here, you can look at legitimate questions. that process should play out. we don't need to pre-judge it. but republicans did vote to confirm lew previously repeatedly, barring a big bombshell or new report, i think he gets confirmed again. and the bigger problem may just be his ugly signature on those dollar bills. >> yeah, it's an ugly signature. i think he actually is not qualified for the position. i've said before, very tough on him, he has no financial experience, no international

experience, no currency experience. i think he was a lousy omb director, he can't get along with republicans. but besides that, what else do we like about him? jennifer ruben, i want to ask you something else, switch gears. here's what. a very highly placed senior source in the administration dialed me up today. okay. it's a person i talk to from time to time. and said to me that basically i got the story wrong. that basically -- now, listen to this, basically jack lew is a very conservative democrat, a fiscal conservative who is going to sell entitlement reform and spending cuts to liberal democrats and all of john boehner and his people are wrong that lew actually gets along with republicans. do you think lew is a conservative democrat? do you think he's going to go for entitlement reform and sell it to the democratic caucus? >> no. i think you're being spun, larry. and as you have asked the question, i think you realize they are out to spin you.

a few things. first of all, he was the most disruptive, the most confrontational person in 2011. it's documented in bob woodward's book. when he came into the room, bad things happened, when he left, they made progress. second of all, this is a guy who has not come out with a budget in four years, or is part of a white house that has not come out with a budget in four years that has made any attempt to deal with our entitlement programs. he got up and this is why jeff sessions says he will not vote for him. he got up and flat out lied to the senate finance committee saying they were going to see a time when we were no longer adding to the debt and deficit. and that's just not true. that's not what the obama administration has done. and tim geithner to his credit did not repeat that lie. so he's got a lot of problems and i agree, larry, i don't understand why the president keeps putting up people who are not qualified for the job. not only is he not qualified, you've got chuck hagel who he's trying to sell as a great

infantry man. i love nurses, but they shouldn't be the head of hhs. we need qualified people with credibility with the other side. >> this whole thing's sort of this insider liberalism. >> right. >> it seems to me, ari, that's basically what jack is. he's an insider liberal, he's going to take his marching orders. you know, this administration runs everything from the oval office and president obama's ideology, which is a left wing ideology. i don't happen to share it. he won the election, i get that, but you just can't convince me that a jack lew or chuck hagel are first class appointments. they're not. nobody's going to buy that. >> how much time do i get to respond to jennifer's points? >> you get about 40 seconds. >> look, i think briefly on senator hagel, he was on the foreign relations committee, he spoke out about iraq, he spoke out about the surge, he has a record, some people disagree with his policies, i think he's imminently qualified, not only obviously because he served bravely for our country but also

because he did overnight and george bush and other people picked people for the same reason. now, look, there may be some area of agreement here in which i think lew is being tapped because he was deputy omb director under clinton, omb director in this administration and we are in a period where every economic position is focused on spending and potentially cutting spending. that doesn't mean he gives you everything you want or the tea party wants, but, boy, republicans ought to figure out a way to take their wins when they get them. and i think this is an example of how successful a lot of republicans have been in defining -- wait -- >> i can't even finish a compliment. >> a responsible budget in the entire time he was there. i don't think republicans love this guy. >> look, larry, she said that already and that's a point and we heard it. my observation is that there is some traction here for that. and in a similar -- >> for not putting out a budget? >> it's similar the way leahy didn't want to go to appropriations.

>> i got to get out. i'm just saying, this source who called me today, very senior guy, i wanted to put his argument on the table. i think that's fair. but i've got to tell you, ari, this guy lou, he doesn't get along with people very well. he's got to take -- maybe a little bit of therapy will help him in the negotiations. >> i think it's the policies not the personality. >> i think it's both. ari and jennifer, hang with me, more work to do later on. switching gears now, it's a total switch. is virginia going to be become the first in the nation to drop the state gasoline tax? apparently it's going to raise the sales tax to cover it. but grover norquist thinks the sales tax is going up too much. so first on cnbc, bob mcdonnell. as always, you're welcome on this program. why did you do this? you got rid of the gas tax and put in a sales tax, increased for it which grover norquist is too much. what's your thinking on this, sir? >> well, i disagree with that

assessment. we're doing a revenue neutral conversion from the gas tax to the sales tax. gas tax was on a long-term decline because of invasion, because of alternative fuels, fuel efficiency. it's not going to keep up with the demands for a modern state like virginia where we have big infrastructure demands. we already use the sales tax. and ill thought the conversion was timely. and with huge transportation problems in northern virginia in particular, we've got to -- we've got to make some adjustments, we have a lot of reforms, using general funds, but this program together will help get people back to work. >> let's move on. i want to ask you a couple of other questions while we have you here. talk to me about the gun story. gun reforms coming out of washington, d.c. i actually think there's going to be some bipartisan support for it. does this affect virginia? >> we're very a strong pro

second amendment state. like most people, my wife and i were in shock to watch what happened in sandy hook. i immediately signed an executive order, we've got a school safety task force beginning to meet next week. i'm focusing on mental health, our school resource officers in school safety. and maybe some tougher penalties for firearms violations. but i don't think you'll see a lot of gun control bills in virginia, we're going to do what works and that's keeping kids in safe -- keep them safe in school with policies that are proven. >> do you reckon you're going to oppose what the white house is going to put out? >> i've got to wait and see what they're going to do. unfortunately, there was some immediate reaction by gun control advocates, i think, unfortunately to use this tragedy and -- in sandy hook as a reason to advocate any number of things that didn't have much to do with the facts of the case. we're going to do reasonable things. i think mental health is a big

part of this. we went through this six years ago with the tragedy at virginia tech. we worked together on a bipartisan basis to improve our mental health laws and made a difference. >> so, final question, and this is not the first time i've asked you this, and it's not going to be the last time. governor mcdonnell, you've done a great job in virginia, become a national figure, are you going to run for president? your term leaves, expires, you can't succeed yourself, are you thinking about running for president? >> now, larry, you know i'm smarter than to answer that question? i've got a year left as governor and i'm not going to be shopping for another job while i've got a lot left to do in virginia. all i can say it's been a real honor to be doing what i've been doing for the last four years and i'll figure out maybe another six months or so what the future might hold. i want to continue in public service in some way. i'll have to figure out that best role is. >> at a dinner party not too long ago, he told me he called

you up and told you to run for president and i have made the same statement publicly to you on this show directly. what i think i just heard you say is you're going to bide your time, but the door's open a little bit. you're a national republican party leader, you're a successful governor. i think the governor's going to be the next nominee the gop or whatever it is. you're leaving the door open. do i get that right? >> well, listen, i've spent a lot of time in the military, in public office now for 22 years. i love making things happen, serving the people of virginia and fixing problems. i do agree with one thing you said and that is i think the next president is going to be a governor. i hope it was going to be this time because governors don't point blame, don't kick the can down the road, they balance budgets, get stuff done, don't make excuses and that's what we need in washington is can do leadership. not what we got now with this president. i hope it'll be a governor. >> governor mcdonnell, i take that as a yes. that's how i'm coming at it. thank you, sir.

>> okay. larry. thanks a lot. here's an odd question. the strangest thing. why does obama care have a section that forbids gun and ammunition registration. it also forbids sharing information on firearms and ammo possession. what is up with that? obama care and guns. it happened a couple of years ago. we're going to get you the answers up next. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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[ male announcer ] send the aflac duck a get-well card at getwellduck.com. here's one for the books. how exactly did the nra muscle its way into obama care. there was an amendment that forbids gun and ammo registration and the sharing of information about potential gun owners. how did they get that? let's ask betsy mccoy former lieutenant governor author of the new book "beating obama care" that is available in stores on monday. betsy, how did this happen? >> well, the fact is, this provision is urgently needed because section 1311 of this law empowers the secretary of health and human services for the first time to literally dictate how doctors treat patients. even patients with private insurance they paid for themselves. so, for example, whether a cardiologist uses a stent versus a bypass. the secretary's empowered to do

anything to improve health care quality. >> what's that? where's the gun connection? >> well, the gun connection is that the secretary of health and human services under this unlimited delegation of authority could dictate that every doctor ask patients, do you have firearms at home? and record that information in their electronic medical records. >> why would that be bad? in effect the government is going in that direction anyway? >> when you go see a doctor that you don't have to disclose information that could be used to limit your rights. >> what if there's mental illness involved? >> well, it is very important, i believe, for the government to develop a way to prohibit guns from getting into the hands of people who are severely mentally ill. but for that, we need something else. we need tort reform because until we protect doctors from the risk of being unfairly sued for reporting a severely mentally ill person to the authorities, you will never prevent guns from being in the

hands of those who were a danger to themselves or others. >> i, you know, i'm pro-second amendment and i'm pro hunting and pro rifles and pro handguns, but i'm not pro these automatic guns. i just think this amendment -- you've got to explain. it forbids gun and ammunition registration. >> no, it does not. no, it does not. >> that's the title of this article. >> yes, but that's incorrect. what this provision actually does and it's right here in the law, what this provision actually does is simply bar the secretary of health and human services from using his or her authority to require that health care officials, health care professionals force patients to disclose whether they have firearms at home. it has nothing to do with any other department of government except the department of health and human services. >> all right. then who should the disclosure be? you're not against the disclosure, are you? >> no, but i'm against using our health care system. >> you're saying the justice department or someone else, not the health care system. >> exactly.

and i would say that the ama should have been as aggressive and successful as the nra. >> right. >> in curbing the unlimited authority of the secretary of health and human services. this really empowers her for the first time in history to standardize medical practice and dictate how doctors treat patients. she should not be able to do that and neither should any of her successors. >> thank you very much, betsy mccoy as always. now, we are finally about to get to my favorite movie of the year which is going to sweep the oscars because it shows how the great abe lincoln conquered a dysfunctional congress. and if you think that sounds familiar, it can familiar. we'll get right to it. >> stepped out upon the world stage now with the fate of human dignity in our hands. blood's been spilt to afford us this moment. now, now, now. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us.

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oscar nominations are out and washington politics are taking center stage. steven spielberg's lincoln is the leader with 12 nominations. i saw it in the theater, i loved it. i didn't want it to end. that's because it showed how abe lincoln defeated a dysfunctional congress on a hugely important issue, slavery freedom. the 13th amendment. i've got the box office president of hollywood.com and our panel ari melber and

jennifer ruben back with us too. paul, i think this is such an important movie, beautifully active movie. today everybody thinks you can't get anything done in washington. that's what they said in 1864, and look how great lincoln was. that was his genius. will it be the movie of the year, paul? >> i think it could be. i mean, these 12 nominations really set it up for a chance at an oscar sweep. oscar loves the sweep. and this movie is so brilliant. and, of course, daniel day lewis is lincoln in this movie. it's uncanny how he looks. but tommy lee jones as thaddeus stevens, that's the role, the showy role. he's nominated for best supporting actor and sally field nominated for supporting actress. this could be a major sweep for this movie. >> daniel is going to win. he gets best actor, tommy lee jones gets best supporting.

ari, best picture, best picture, ari. >> i think you can go with "argo" for best picture, and i think hollywood loves movies that touch on hollywood. >> jennifer, best picture? >> i'm going to go with "les miserables." it's about religious faith. a man who was broken, a prisoner, shown mercy, finds religious faith, becomes a self-made man, great parent, sacrifices for his child. what a great message for our time. >> jennifer, you're right about the message, but it can't win because it's too long. it was over three hours. no movie over three hours can win an oscar. and you saw at the end of the movie. went on and on and on. that's basically why russell crowe, he had to jump off the building and commit suicide. you know why he did that, jennifer? because he wanted to get out of the movie! it was taking too long. paul, you can see why i'm not a movie critic for a living. you may see why i shouldn't even be doing this for a living. but i really believe when you read the stuff about

washington's reaction to lincoln and it's bipartisan. harry reid the democrat, mitch mcconnell the republican, president obama the democrat, they're all watching this movie. i think to learn how to get something done. that's what the historical part of this is. >> well, it is a great lesson. and steven spielberg's such a brilliant film maker, he put this thing together in a way that takes essentially a parlor drama and makes it riveting and exciting. i loved "argo," by the way. that is a terrific movie. but ben afflec didn't get nominated for best director. and katherine bigelow didn't get nominated for best picture. that's the bigger problem. even tarantino wasn't nominated for "django unchained." these movies did not direct themselves. >> they're very good movies. i agree with you. i see a lot of movies with my wife. they didn't capture it today

that's why the "lincoln" movie is so appropriate. i think the academy award voters or whoever they are, they're going to figure that out. everybody can like "lincoln," take something for it. paul, thank you very much, ari, jennifer, you're all great tonight. we'll see you about our hollywood oscar picks later. that's it for tonight's show. thanks for watching. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it.

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